If you've never used it, Pocket is a popular app that allows you to save links from several browsers and other applications in an easily-accessible list. Mozilla and Pocket have been working together for a while now, most notably to bring native Pocket integration to Firefox. Now Read it Later, Inc., owners of Pocket, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Mozilla.

The acquisition has two main purposes - expanding Mozilla's product portfolio beyond Firefox, and using the Pocket core team to help develop Mozilla's Context Graph initiative. The latter is a recommendations system that Mozilla initially started working on in 2016, which aims to improve how web navigation works based on context.

It's unclear what changes Pocket users can expect in the near future. You can find Mozilla's original post at the source link below.

Aha, I opened the article precisely looking for an answer to that question. Thank goodness for comment sections!

I wonder how easy (if at all) they'll make it for people to run their own Pocket server instances, and/or document the API so compatible endpoints can be built (I'd love such a thing integrated with my Nextcloud instance, for example).

ddevito

Pocket is an essential app/service for me, I use it daily. Their customer support is also top notch, I hope Mozilla doesn't muck it up #Thunderbird

Arkitech

What's the point of using a hashtag in a Disqus comment?

Chris

Making a joke. That said, I'm not really sure I understand the joke, as desktop email clients as a whole have been on the decline forever.

ddevito

What's the point in replying to a comment on disqus that contains a hashtag?

Gjorgi Lazarovski

Making use of the reply option in Disqus?

abc

To get the OP to use the reply button, like you just did. Should be obvious. It's how comments work.

spewak

What's the point of Disqus? (Mic Drop)

pantagruel

"Their customer support is also top notch" can confirm. I've written them something like "your new 'recommend to a friend' option, that's pushed everywhere in the UI, sucks". Got a response from a lovely lady and had to back off and explain myself ;)

Kaleas

Sigh, one of the first things I disable on a new install of Firefox, along with Smile.

Vivek Rameses

Now you won't have to.

Kaleas

Not sure how Mozilla owning Pocket will make it less pre-installed with Firefox.

abc

Huh? How often do you install Firefox or any software? You are aware of the concept of updates, yes?

Kaleas

Once in a while. I just got done rebuilding after borking my profile pretty hard. Also when I setup Firefox for a family member I generally disable Pocket and Hello.

johnforamerica

Used to love Pocket, and paid for the premium version of the "Read it Later" app before they went subscription.

But they'll never convince me that they should be my "Internet storage locker" when there is a reoccurring monthly charge for something as basic as searching "my own" content.

That's a pretty minimum expectation, not a premium feature. Would you use an email program that charged extra for search? How about a notes/list app?

I get the need to monetize, but it's clear there are other ways they can (and are) profiting besides premium subscriptions.

But it's not your content. It's content you've saved. Which means Pocket has to store a copy of that article on their servers. That's what you're paying for. The search feature can't be implemented fully without storing everything you save.

I did not. Those two paragraphs have nothing to do with what i said. Search is a basic feature available to everyone. Premium search means storing every article you save so their available and searchable at all times, which requires storage as I pointed out.

johnforamerica

" Premium search means storing every article you save so their available and searchable at all time"

No, that's search, not "premium search". Gmail (and my other examples) does that same thing and monetizes in ways other than a subscription.

I didn't claim it doesn't take server space. I said there are other ways to monetize. I'm sorry you choose to overlook examples that contradict you, but that doesn't mean "they have nothing to do with" what you said.

That is premium search. A basic search is available to all users, but it can't search your entire history because your history isn't being saved.

Google monetizes through ads. Pocket is already doing that and their premium sub removes ads and gives you permanent server storage

You can use the free version and still search your recent history. But searching throughout all time requires a premium acct. Google is a much larger company and has the scale to offer free storage. They also have much more experience with cloud storage, with two decades of designing server farms and Drive.

DSpaceNine

If they would add the community suggestions of being able to highlight and recall sections of an article, add comments on top of the article, etc. (you know, like you can in the Kindle app), that would turn Pocket into a research tool. Now THAT could justify a Premium tier price plan.

It has been pretty buggy or lacking basic editing features in my experience. Other than that, a lot of people seem to love it.

Umesh Chamara

I think you haven't tried it recently.I'm currently using it on my mac,android phone and my Kindle without any issues . I hate pocket because of their subscription scheme . Raindrop is free and you can use it in nearly every platform. it's really cool service to manage all of my bookmarks . 😊

Vivek Rameses

Nice! I used to use pocket but was unsure of the company behind it. Hopefully this becomes open source.

Rook HD

This app is worth it. I thought Microsoft would be the one acquiring this app tho considering recently they acquired quality apps like wunderlist and swiftkey

JPLoureiro

OH NOOOOOOOoooooooo....... wait, this is good! YAY!!!

k0n

I used to use Pocket a lot, and then at some point I accumulated far too big a backlog of stories. Maybe I just need to re-develop a habit of using it as as Sunday breakfast magazine routine ;)

I only wish they had a native send-to-kindle solution.

k0n

Also, I have recently noticed Pocket has overtaken my Chrome New Tab screen with recommended stories - it could be great for article discoverability, but was a bit jarring to see at first - quite a adware-like behavior.

Thomas

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Jonatan Gomez

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.

Ysstog

This sucks. I love Pocket, but Mozilla?! Ugh. I guess it's better than Yahoo! buying it.